[A writer] should try not to be too far, personally, below the level of his work.

[My early stories] are the work of a living writer whom I know in a sense, but can never meet.

There's something so showy about desperation, it takes hard wits to see it's a grandiose form of funk.

I can't see or feel the conflict between love and religion. To me, they're the same thing.

Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?

When you love someone all your saved up wishes start coming out.

Good general-purpose manners nowadays may be said to consist in knowing how much you can get away with.